Hidden Rainbow

This is the cake I made for the Princess on her actual birthday. Since her birthday falls on St. Patrick's Day we decided that a rainbow cake would be very fitting. It is an awesome party cake. I have to tell you, I could hardly wait to cut into this thing. The wait was well worth it. It is very cool!

I decided not to do a step by step for this cake because the original poster already did that. You can find those instructions here. It's really easy to make. The next time I make it I would definitely color the frosting though. It took a LOT of white frosting to hide all the rainbow colors.


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Please keep in mind, this is cake. No where am I claiming this is a healthy cake, no where am I saying you should make this often. Yes it has food coloring. I used the gel colors so it doesn't take as much to get the vibrant colors you see in this cake.

Hidden Rainbow

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A Slice of Chocolate Heaven

I was first told about this incredible cake recipe from an online friend, Val. It is the best chocolate cake ever. No, seriously E.V.E.R. You will never want to eat a out of the box chocolate cake again, and this recipe is easy enough that you won't have to. So, follow along with me and let's make cake!


Gather your ingredients for the cake.


Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease and flour your pans. I used 2 heart shaped pans and then floured with cocoa since it's a chocolate cake. You can use any kind of pan or make cupcakes if you would like.


Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.


Beat with your mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Feel free to use 2 of the same beaters. I broke one of mine at Christmas doing baking and haven't bothered to replace it yet. Secretly I'm holding out for a kitchenaid. ;) Back to the cake...


At this point pour in a cup of boiling water and stir. Stir it up good! It's going to get watery. You're going to think oh no, this isn't cake batter. Trust me, just go with it. It'll be so good you'll wonder what took you so long to make this cake.


Now, divide the batter up between your two pans or just dump it all in one big pan, whatever you fancy. Then slide it in the hot oven. I let mine bake for about 35-40 minutes. Check it with a tooth pick and you'll know when your cake is ready to come out of the oven.


When your cakes are finished baking, let them cool in the pans for about 10-15 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. A little trick I use before I frost is this: After my cakes have cooled completely and just before I am ready to frost them, I put them in the freezer for a few minutes. You don't want to freeze them solid but doing this will really help reduce the crumbs in your frosting.
About that frosting, let's make some while our cakes are cooling.


Go ahead and gather these ingredients.


Melt your butter in a large bowl. Stir in the cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.


Now frost your cake! Call your friends and family. Slice into it and I'm pretty sure you'll impress someone.

Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Frosting - Original recipe can be found here.

Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two heart or round baking pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

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Tomorrow check in for Rainbow Cake

A Slice of Chocolate Heaven

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Green Smoothie Love

Green Smoothie Queen Challenge

More Wordless Wednesday here

Green Smoothie Love

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Garden Salad

This is what I made for my lunch today. I'm eating raw during the day and then having a cooked supper. I know for years when I thought of a salad it was in a small bowl or on the side of a plate. This salad is a meal, you have to remember that when you make it. Here's what I did:

1/2 head romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1/2 garden cucumber, diced
2 stalks celery chopped
handful cherry tomatoes slice in half
1/2 orange bell pepper chopped
maybe a 1/3 cup of chopped broccoli
1/2 avocado diced
1/2 cup chick peas, rinsed

For a dressing I just used 2 TB Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar and juice of one lime
Topped it off with a bit of fresh ground pepper and sea salt.

The whole salad has approximately 397 calories. You could leave out either the chickpeas or the avocado if you wanted about 100 calories less. But since I'm still breastfeeding I needed the protein from the chickpeas and the fat from the avocado will sustain you longer also. Regardless it's much less than a meal from McD's and far healthier. :)

Garden Salad

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